Tag Archives: longrun

Sunday is long run day and this week it was back to Ashton Court for the usual Sunday Social. I had intended to go out with the 10 mile group, but after we got up Nightingale (ignoring the heart rate alerts) decided that they were going a little too fast for the effort level I was going for, so went with the 10k group.

I left them when we got back into the estate after a lap around Abbott’s Pool (on the paths, not in the water), and did the remainder of my run on my own in the mist, looping around the golf course, down the zig zags, back up through the fallow deer park then back through the red deer park. Around about 9 and a half miles, getting back a couple of minutes after the 10 mile group for tea and teacakes.

I was looking forward to today’s long run a somewhat worrying amount. It had been an age since my last long run on 18th December, and that had only been 70 minutes long (with an extra 20 minutes tacked on a bit later). I had been run director at Ashton Court parkrun in the morning, and had been itching to pull on my own running shoes and rack up some mileage.

This was my first chance to go out on my own on a long run and work at an ‘easy’ effort (or heart rate zone 2) as I often do my long run with friends. The first quarter of the run felt terrible. Not because I had a niggle or it was hard work, but rather the opposite. It felt so incredibly slow. I could barely move above a brisk walk without my watch telling me that my heart rate was too high.

I was already mentally composing an email to my coach about how I must be allowed to do this long run at a higher intensity of effort and was worried that I would never get in any decent mileage, maybe only 8 miles or so, certainly I would never make it to Warmley my usual turning point for a 10 mile run.

But little by little I was finding it easier to run at such a relatively slow pace, and the warnings about going over my desired max heart rate were becoming fewer and fewer. I also started gaming the system. I knew that when I run downhill that it places less strain on my heart, so I sped up a bit then, and managed to hit Warmley just at my turnaround time.

The strange thing was that I felt fatigue just as if I had done the same route at a faster pace (which doesn’t somehow seem fair), so I understand a bit more the purpose of this run. As ‘time on feet’ it came it at half my intended marathon time in April, though I only covered just under 40% of the marathon distance.

It brought my total distance run for 2016 to 2,528km or 1,570 miles, a little less than last year, but not by much and I think this year’s running has been ‘smarter’ with more of a purpose behind each run rather than just the daily challenge.

Sunday is long run day and that usually means a trip over to Ashton Court Estate and 10 miles with friends (mostly from my running club Bristol & West). But it is Christmas and that means Christmas parties. As we’re runners that means running Christmas parties and a slightly shorter than usual long run around Blaise followed by soup and cake.

Today was supposed to be 90 minutes at an easy pace (heart rate zone 2) and we came up a little short on the social run, so when I got home I went out for another 20 minutes to get up to full duration.

Two runs in a day, also two running chrimble parties in a day as I just had enough time to stretch, shower and head back out to another party, this time with less running and a chance to see if I can still walk in high heels.